Now it's easier than ever to save fresh rainwater for your garden using your downspout. We've adapted a popular British downspout diverter — well-regarded for its convenience and trim appearance — to fit American downspouts. The rain barrel diverter has powder-coated steel construction.

It does what it says, only down side is if it isn't raining hard all the rain drains out the small drain hole rather than filling ip and going to the barrel. Drain hole could have been made smaller and closer in to drain.

We installed it as directed, except where they say to install it so it is level with the top of the barrel (to the diverter), we placed the diverter an inch or so above that spot. This ensures that as soon as the barrel is full, the diverter closes the flow and the water goes down the downspout. This was advice from another review that proved worthy!! We we're surprised the unit was made from metal, as anything that is wet so much is bound to rust...we'd have preferred it if the unit was made from lightweight resin.

I am just getting started using rain barrels and I bought 4 of these, one for each of the downspouts on my house.

The first problem I discovered is that the instructions tell you to cut out 2.5" of the downspout to install the unit. I learned on the first one that you need to cut 3" out or you will be out of luck trying to install one without completely detaching the downspout from the house. In the end, I found it easier to detach the downspout from the house because it makes it so much easier to cut.

I ordered and received the units that are supposed to be for 2"X3" downspouts, but I believe these would work better for 3"X4". The fit is too loose for the 2X3 to be efficient.

The heavy metal construction requires that they be attached to the house. There are two screw holes for mounting on one side. The drain hole on the inside is not placed symmetrically, and there is only one water connection that must be directed to the right side of the downspout, so if your rain barrel must be placed to the left side of the downspout, the installation requires a very long hose which will then sag when water enters it, stressing the connections at both ends which in turn causes them to leak.

There is a little hole in the bottom of the unit that I'm sure is for draining residual water down the drain pipe after the rain has stopped. Trouble is that with 2"X3" downspouts, you have to make sure that the lower downspout is in a position to accept that drainage. In my installations, because of the proximity to the corner of the house, that was impossible, so the weep hole ended up just dripping next to house. I caulked them up to prevent having that water next to my foundation. That hole should be in the interior tube that feeds the lower downspout, not outside, especially in light of the imprecise fit.

Once the rain barrel has filled, these diverters overflow automatically back into the drain pipe, but that process is very noisy.

While the design of this unit is clever, the execution is very poor. If it were made of UV resistant plastic, if it was built symmetrically so it could be used for barrels on either side, and if it fit more precisely where it would only need to be attached to the downspouts and not the house too, it would be a better product. Then the only problem would be the error in the installation instructions.

Well made but did not work for us. Small litter from the gutters clogged the outlet and could not be cleaned out of the diverter, except by removing from the wall. I had more rainwater go down the center overflow tube than into the rainbarrels. What I will give five stars to is the Customer Serv folks - not only did they work with me when I had problems, they stood by their "100% satisfaction guaranteed" slogan and refunded me for the product I couldn't use. For that alone I will come back to shop at their site.

I had this item about a year before I decided to "dive in" and try installation. It was simple and quick and I'm sorry I didn't install this last year when it first arrived.I have ordered a second one for my second rain barrel I'll install on my front porch to water hanging baskets and containers.

Easy to install, but in Florida it has rusted out in 2 yrs. It is still a good buy. This diverter does not need to be adjusted when it rains--it automatically lets excess rain go down the gutter system.

We run a hobby farm and must conserve water, so rain barrels are a must for us. We have found these diverters useful but BEWARE of two poor features. 1) The weep hole in the bottom should be plugged to avoid losing water in light rain and 2) The downspout MUST be cut off higher than recommended, since when the downspout sits flush with the bottom of the diverter, you WILL NOT collect rainwater. We had a 1" gully-washer for a new barrel/diverter and it only filled about 1/4 of the way. Our other 6 barrels were FULL. If you cut the downspout an inch or two higher than recommended, as I later did for this barrel, it will function properly. The manufacturer needs to note this in the instructions.

These things do the job. It's a good way to go for splicing into your gutters to route water to the rain barrels.

I have confirmed that when the day comes to replace the rubber grommet, a 5/8" PCV valve grommet will work. I went to Autozone and took Help! part number 42055 (they sell for $2.99 ea as of May 24, 2014). These are actually easier to install and remove than the grommets that ship with the diverters because the major diameter is smaller on one side that the other - so it's easier to push it through the hole.

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